Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival
This case focuses on an organization established to fight for the housing rights of people living in "informal settlements" in apartheid-era South Africa. In the wake of democratization, the group finds itself under increasing pressure from residents of townships, which it had represented to begin to offer a range of social services for residents in addition to housing advocacy. Its president, Mandla Ndlovu, must now decide whether and how to change the range of services, which the organization offers. This case was developed by the Public and Development Management Program of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. HKS Case Number 1291.0
Swot Analysis of "Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival" written by Ramashia Rams includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Africa South facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economic development, International business, Project management, Social enterprise, Strategic planning, Sustainability and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Africa South, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Africa South 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Africa South
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 Africa South
Strengths Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Africa South in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Africa South has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Africa South 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Africa South in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Africa South has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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.
High brand equity
– Africa South has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Africa South to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Africa South is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Africa South 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Africa South 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Africa South in the sector have low bargaining power. Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Africa South to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Africa South is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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
– Africa South 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 Africa South in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Africa South to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Africa South to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Africa South 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Africa South, firm in the HBR case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Africa South supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Africa South vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Africa South 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival HBR case study mentions - Africa South 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Africa South 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Africa South 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. Africa South 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Africa South is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival, is just above the industry average. Africa South 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Africa South 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival, 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ramashia Rams suggests that, Africa South 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.
Opportunities Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival | 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Africa South 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Africa South 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. Africa South 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. Africa South 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Africa South 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Africa South 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 Africa South has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Africa South to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival case study. Africa South can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Africa South can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Africa South 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Africa South can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Africa South 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Africa South 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Africa South 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Africa South to increase its market reach. Africa South 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.
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. Africa South can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Africa South has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Africa South 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival, Africa South 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 .
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.
Increasing wage structure of Africa South
– 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 Africa South.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Africa South with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Africa South 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Africa South 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.
Environmental challenges
– Africa South 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. Africa South can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Africa South in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Africa South.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Africa South 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.
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 Africa South business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Africa South 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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 Mikhukhu People of South Africa: A Question of Survival 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 Africa South needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
