Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde
In mid-2007 the chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel Group, having elected to file for bankruptcy under a newly-enacted French insolvency law, awaits the outcome of a vote by creditors and shareholders. At least 50% of the shareholders must approve the plan, however they face significant dilution of their ownership interests in Eurotunnel. If the vote fails to pass, the possibility that the company may have to be liquidated becomes increasingly likely.
Authors :: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Dessain, Sarah L. Abbott
Swot Analysis of "Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde" written by Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Dessain, Sarah L. Abbott includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eurotunnel Vote facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Financial analysis, Financial management, International business, Reorganization and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eurotunnel Vote, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eurotunnel Vote 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eurotunnel Vote
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Eurotunnel Vote
Strengths Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eurotunnel Vote in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eurotunnel Vote has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Eurotunnel Vote is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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.
Training and development
– Eurotunnel Vote has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Eurotunnel Vote 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eurotunnel Vote digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eurotunnel Vote 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
– Eurotunnel Vote is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Eurotunnel Vote in the sector have low bargaining power. Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Eurotunnel Vote to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Eurotunnel Vote in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eurotunnel Vote 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.
High brand equity
– Eurotunnel Vote has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Eurotunnel Vote to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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.
Weaknesses Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde HBR case study mentions - Eurotunnel Vote 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Eurotunnel Vote has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde, is just above the industry average. Eurotunnel Vote 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
– Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Eurotunnel Vote, firm in the HBR case study Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Eurotunnel Vote 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Eurotunnel Vote 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. Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Eurotunnel Vote is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Eurotunnel Vote needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Eurotunnel Vote to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Eurotunnel Vote 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 - Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eurotunnel Vote is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde | 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Eurotunnel Vote to increase its market reach. Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Eurotunnel Vote 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Eurotunnel Vote 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.
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 Eurotunnel Vote in the consumer business. Now Eurotunnel Vote can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Eurotunnel Vote to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Eurotunnel Vote to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eurotunnel Vote in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Eurotunnel Vote can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Eurotunnel Vote can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Eurotunnel Vote can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Eurotunnel Vote can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Eurotunnel Vote 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Eurotunnel Vote to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Eurotunnel Vote 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. Eurotunnel Vote 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.
Threats Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde are -
Regulatory challenges
– Eurotunnel Vote 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eurotunnel Vote 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.
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 Eurotunnel Vote business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Eurotunnel Vote in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Eurotunnel Vote can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Eurotunnel Vote with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Eurotunnel Vote 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.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Eurotunnel Vote 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Eurotunnel Vote 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 Eurotunnel Vote.
Increasing wage structure of Eurotunnel Vote
– 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 Eurotunnel Vote.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde 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 Eurotunnel Vote needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.