Case Study Description of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?
This is the second case in the Azza Fahmy series. This case and the three others in this series (9B13M097, 9B13M099 and 9B14M023) can be used together or on a standalone basis. This case series features a female Egyptian entrepreneur who faces the challenge of developing her self-titled jewellery brand. In this case, the entrepreneur realizes the importance of having a clear organizational structure with different departments and a clear chain of authority. As a result, she hires her daughter as the managing director to take on the responsibility of developing a mission, vision and explicit organizational structure. This restructuring allows the company to grow further, which leads the entrepreneur to consider her opportunities in the international market. Author Marina Apaydin is affiliated with American University of Beirut. Author Hend Mostafa is affiliated with American University of Cairo.
Swot Analysis of "Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?" written by Marina Apaydin, Hend Mostafa, Mariam Mohamed Sherin, Mariam Ali Mobarak includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Azza Fahmy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Azza Fahmy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Azza Fahmy
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 Azza Fahmy
Strengths Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Azza Fahmy in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Azza Fahmy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Azza Fahmy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Azza Fahmy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy 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
– Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Azza Fahmy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Azza Fahmy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Azza Fahmy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Azza Fahmy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Azza Fahmy 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Azza Fahmy is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Azza Fahmy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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
– Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Azza Fahmy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Azza Fahmy does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Azza Fahmy in the sector have low bargaining power. Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Azza Fahmy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?, in the dynamic environment Azza Fahmy has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Azza Fahmy has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?, it seems that the employees of Azza Fahmy 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? HBR case study mentions - Azza Fahmy 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Azza Fahmy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Azza Fahmy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Azza Fahmy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Azza Fahmy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Azza Fahmy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Azza Fahmy 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Azza Fahmy, firm in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Azza Fahmy 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Azza Fahmy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Azza Fahmy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? | 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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. Azza Fahmy can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Azza Fahmy 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Azza Fahmy 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Azza Fahmy 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Azza Fahmy 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, Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Azza Fahmy 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.
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 Azza Fahmy in the consumer business. Now Azza Fahmy can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Azza Fahmy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Azza Fahmy can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Azza Fahmy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Azza Fahmy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Azza Fahmy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Azza Fahmy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? case study. Azza Fahmy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Azza Fahmy to increase its market reach. Azza Fahmy 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.
Threats Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? are -
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. Azza Fahmy can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Azza Fahmy 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. Azza Fahmy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally?, Azza Fahmy 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Azza Fahmy 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Azza Fahmy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Azza Fahmy 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Azza Fahmy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Azza Fahmy in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? .
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. Azza Fahmy 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Azza Fahmy 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 Azza Fahmy is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy Jewellery: Expand Locally or Internationally? 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 Azza Fahmy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
