Case Study Description of Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech
Examines a hotel chain's attempt to use information technology to achieve market dominance and build customer loyalty during a period of global industry decline.
Swot Analysis of "Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech" written by Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wyndham Chain's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, IT, Leadership, Organizational culture and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wyndham Chain's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wyndham Chain's 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wyndham Chain's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Wyndham Chain's
Strengths Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wyndham Chain's in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wyndham Chain's 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.
Learning organization
- Wyndham Chain's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Wyndham Chain's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wyndham Chain's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wyndham Chain's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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.
Analytics focus
– Wyndham Chain's 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 Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli 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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Wyndham Chain's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Wyndham Chain's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wyndham Chain's in the sector have low bargaining power. Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wyndham Chain's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Wyndham Chain's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Wyndham Chain's 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
– Wyndham Chain's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Wyndham Chain's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wyndham Chain's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Wyndham Chain's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wyndham Chain's 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 Wyndham Chain's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Wyndham Chain's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wyndham Chain's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wyndham Chain's is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Wyndham Chain's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wyndham Chain's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham Chain's 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Wyndham Chain's 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 Wyndham Chain's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Wyndham Chain's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Wyndham Chain's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Wyndham Chain's 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 - Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech, is just above the industry average. Wyndham Chain's 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham Chain's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech | 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Wyndham Chain's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Wyndham Chain's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Wyndham Chain's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Wyndham Chain's 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. Wyndham Chain's 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wyndham Chain's 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 Wyndham Chain's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wyndham Chain's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wyndham Chain's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wyndham Chain's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Wyndham Chain's to increase its market reach. Wyndham Chain's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wyndham Chain's 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wyndham Chain's 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, Wyndham Chain's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wyndham Chain's 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, Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Wyndham Chain's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wyndham Chain's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wyndham Chain's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech case study. Wyndham Chain's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech are -
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 Wyndham Chain's in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 Wyndham Chain's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Wyndham Chain's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Wyndham Chain's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
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. Wyndham Chain's 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wyndham Chain's in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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
– Wyndham Chain's 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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 wage structure of Wyndham Chain's
– 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 Wyndham Chain's.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech, Wyndham Chain's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wyndham Chain's 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wyndham Chain's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wyndham Chain's is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech 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 Wyndham Chain's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.