United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group"
The UN is a typical example of a global organization with a complex politicized and "siloed" structure. How does one make the parts collaborate? How does one effect change and performance improvement when one does not have formal authority?
Authors :: Fabrizio Burlando, Luk Van Wassenhove, Mark Voorhes
Swot Analysis of "United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group"" written by Fabrizio Burlando, Luk Van Wassenhove, Mark Voorhes includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Politicized Siloed facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group"
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Politicized Siloed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Politicized Siloed
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 Politicized Siloed
Strengths United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Politicized Siloed in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Politicized Siloed
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Politicized Siloed does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Politicized Siloed is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Politicized Siloed 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Politicized Siloed digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Politicized Siloed 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.
Analytics focus
– Politicized Siloed 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 Fabrizio Burlando, Luk Van Wassenhove, Mark Voorhes 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Politicized Siloed in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Politicized Siloed 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 Politicized Siloed in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Politicized Siloed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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.
High brand equity
– Politicized Siloed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Politicized Siloed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Politicized Siloed is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Politicized Siloed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Politicized Siloed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 Politicized Siloed has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", it seems that the employees of Politicized Siloed 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Politicized Siloed 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Politicized Siloed is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Politicized Siloed 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. Politicized Siloed 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Politicized Siloed 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 - United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Politicized Siloed 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", in the dynamic environment Politicized Siloed has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Politicized Siloed has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Politicized Siloed products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Politicized Siloed needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Politicized Siloed 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.
Opportunities United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" | 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Politicized Siloed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Politicized Siloed can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Politicized Siloed to increase its market reach. Politicized Siloed 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Politicized Siloed 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
– Politicized Siloed 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.
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. Politicized Siloed can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Politicized Siloed can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Politicized Siloed has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Politicized Siloed to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" case study. Politicized Siloed can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Politicized Siloed 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. Politicized Siloed 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, Politicized Siloed 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, United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Politicized Siloed can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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.
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 Politicized Siloed in the consumer business. Now Politicized Siloed can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" are -
Increasing wage structure of Politicized Siloed
– 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 Politicized Siloed.
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. Politicized Siloed can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", Politicized Siloed 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 .
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 Politicized Siloed in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Politicized Siloed business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Politicized Siloed 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Politicized Siloed 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Politicized Siloed has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Politicized Siloed 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Politicized Siloed 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Politicized Siloed is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Politicized Siloed 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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 Politicized Siloed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group"
