Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations
The number and value of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) continue to grow, with record increases in the U.S. and Asia Pacific in 2015. Yet, despite calls from academic literature for more consideration of the human and behavioral factors in such massive change, there remains an inordinate focus on the financial or quantitative aspects. We connect the newer streams of research with efficiency and growth imperatives via an illustrative analysis of ANZ New Zealand's horizontal merger with The National Bank of New Zealand. ANZ successfully completed a brand and technology merger by prioritizing the customer, addressing employees' socioeconomic concerns, providing enough time and resources to ensure efficiencies, and rebranding enriched customer services and revenues. The results were overwhelmingly positive and provide a useful template for how M&As should be executed in the future using a people-first approach.
Swot Analysis of "Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations" written by Sandy Jap, A. Noel Gould, Annie H. Liu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Anz Mergers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Mergers & acquisitions and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Anz Mergers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Anz Mergers 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Anz Mergers
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 Anz Mergers
Strengths Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Anz Mergers in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Anz Mergers 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 Sandy Jap, A. Noel Gould, Annie H. Liu 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Anz Mergers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Anz Mergers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Anz Mergers 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Anz Mergers in the sector have low bargaining power. Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Anz Mergers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Anz Mergers has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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
– Anz Mergers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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.
Learning organization
- Anz Mergers 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 Anz Mergers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Anz Mergers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Anz Mergers 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Anz Mergers 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Anz Mergers 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Anz Mergers 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.
Weaknesses Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Anz Mergers 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Anz Mergers 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Anz Mergers 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Anz Mergers 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 - Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Anz Mergers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Anz Mergers 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations, it seems that the employees of Anz Mergers 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Anz Mergers 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Anz Mergers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Anz Mergers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Anz Mergers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Anz Mergers 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.
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 Anz Mergers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Anz Mergers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Opportunities Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations | 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations are -
Buying journey improvements
– Anz Mergers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Anz Mergers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Anz Mergers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Anz Mergers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Anz Mergers to increase its market reach. Anz Mergers 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.
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. Anz Mergers 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. Anz Mergers 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Anz Mergers 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, Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Anz Mergers 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Anz Mergers 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.
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 Anz Mergers in the consumer business. Now Anz Mergers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Anz Mergers 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Anz Mergers 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Anz Mergers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Anz Mergers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Anz Mergers to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations case study. Anz Mergers can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Anz Mergers 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.
Threats Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Anz Mergers 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Anz Mergers 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations, Anz Mergers 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
– Anz Mergers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Anz Mergers 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.
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 Anz Mergers in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Anz Mergers 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. Anz Mergers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing wage structure of Anz Mergers
– 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 Anz Mergers.
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 Anz Mergers 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. Anz Mergers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Anz Mergers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Anz Mergers 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 Anz Mergers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Managing Mergers: Why People First Can Improve Brand and IT Consolidations 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 Anz Mergers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
