United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

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

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

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 government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

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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.

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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

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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 -

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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

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.

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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Politicized Siloed in the sector have low bargaining power. United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Politicized Siloed to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Politicized Siloed 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.

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.

Training and development

– Politicized Siloed has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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

– 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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

– 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.

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.

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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 -

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.

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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", is just above the industry average. Politicized Siloed 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Politicized Siloed, firm in the HBR case study United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Politicized Siloed 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 Politicized Siloed supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group", it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Politicized Siloed vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Politicized Siloed 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" HBR case study mentions - Politicized Siloed 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Politicized Siloed 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.

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.

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.

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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 -

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.

Manufacturing automation

– Politicized Siloed can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Politicized Siloed is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" 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.

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.

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.

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 Politicized Siloed 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 -

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Politicized Siloed 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 United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination in Southern Africa: "With a Little Help from The Boston Consulting Group" .

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Politicized Siloed 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Politicized Siloed 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.

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.

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. Politicized Siloed needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Politicized Siloed.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Politicized Siloed with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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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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