Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B)
Fournier rejected Carlos' request to re-implement Wave II. Carlos visited Colombia and Dubai to determine whether to apply their telephone selling approach ("Telemarketing") elsewhere. Carlos had to decide whether to tell Fournier of Dubai's revolutionary tool that could transform Rank Xerox's sales operations or put the idea aside.
Swot Analysis of "Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B)" written by Michael Casaburi, Gabriel Szulanski includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carlos Fournier facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Cross-cultural management, Knowledge management and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carlos Fournier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carlos Fournier
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 Carlos Fournier
Strengths Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carlos Fournier in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Carlos Fournier is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Carlos Fournier 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.
Training and development
– Carlos Fournier has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Carlos Fournier is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Carlos Fournier has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Carlos Fournier 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.
Analytics focus
– Carlos Fournier 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 Michael Casaburi, Gabriel Szulanski 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
– Carlos Fournier is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Carlos Fournier has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Carlos Fournier to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Carlos Fournier is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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
– Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carlos Fournier to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carlos Fournier to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Carlos Fournier, firm in the HBR case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Casaburi, Gabriel Szulanski suggests that, Carlos Fournier is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), is just above the industry average. Carlos Fournier 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Carlos Fournier 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Carlos Fournier is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Carlos Fournier needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Carlos Fournier to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Carlos Fournier 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 - Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), it seems that the employees of Carlos Fournier 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) HBR case study mentions - Carlos Fournier 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, Carlos Fournier 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), in the dynamic environment Carlos Fournier has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Carlos Fournier has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) | 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) are -
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. Carlos Fournier 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. Carlos Fournier 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carlos Fournier can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Carlos Fournier in the consumer business. Now Carlos Fournier can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Carlos Fournier 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Carlos Fournier 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, Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carlos Fournier to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Carlos Fournier 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Carlos Fournier in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Carlos Fournier 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Carlos Fournier can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Carlos Fournier can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carlos Fournier operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 Carlos Fournier 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Carlos Fournier 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Carlos Fournier 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.
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. Carlos Fournier 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
– Carlos Fournier 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.
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 Carlos Fournier.
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 Carlos Fournier 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B), Carlos Fournier 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Carlos Fournier with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Carlos Fournier
– 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 Carlos Fournier.
Environmental challenges
– Carlos Fournier 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. Carlos Fournier can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Carlos Fournier 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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 Rank Xerox : Is "Telemarketing" the Answer? (B) 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 Carlos Fournier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.