Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative
In late 1994, James Down, member of Mercer's Executive Committee, has to decide whether or not he should push ahead with the writing and publication of a book on growth--at a time when the more successful business publications focus on reengineering and cost cutting. He sees this as an opportunity to position Mercer in the consulting market and align the organization--itself a result of several mergers--around a common platform. He is facing resistance within the firm, however, especially from the firm's European offices, which see little need for this knowledge product. Proceeding without Europe could result in an incomplete product and a divided firm. If he waits, though, he may miss a critical market window. The case provides early versions of the growth framework. The product in this case is built from the firm's knowledge assets, and is very different from manufactured hardware or software.
Swot Analysis of "Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative" written by Dorothy Leonard, Carin-Isabel Knoop includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Mercer Mercer's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Knowledge management, Organizational culture, Product development and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mercer Mercer's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer's
Strengths Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mercer Mercer's in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Mercer Mercer's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mercer Mercer's 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mercer Mercer's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Mercer Mercer's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mercer Mercer's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mercer Mercer's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Mercer Mercer'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.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mercer Mercer's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer's in the sector have low bargaining power. Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mercer Mercer's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mercer Mercer's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Technology & Operations field
– Mercer Mercer's 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 Mercer Mercer's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Mercer Mercer's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mercer Mercer's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mercer Mercer'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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer'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 - Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mercer Mercer's 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Mercer Mercer'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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative, in the dynamic environment Mercer Mercer's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mercer Mercer's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mercer Mercer's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative, is just above the industry average. Mercer Mercer'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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative HBR case study mentions - Mercer Mercer's 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative, it seems that the employees of Mercer Mercer's 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.
Opportunities Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative | 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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. Mercer Mercer's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mercer Mercer's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mercer Mercer's 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Buying journey improvements
– Mercer Mercer's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mercer Mercer's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Mercer Mercer'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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mercer Mercer'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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mercer Mercer's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer'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.
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. Mercer Mercer'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. Mercer Mercer'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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mercer Mercer's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mercer Mercer's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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.
Threats Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Mercer Mercer's 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. Mercer Mercer's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations 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 Mercer Mercer's in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Mercer Mercer's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mercer Mercer's 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative .
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. Mercer Mercer's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Mercer Mercer'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 Mercer Mercer's.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mercer Mercer'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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mercer Mercer's 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mercer Mercer's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mercer Mercer'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.
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 Mercer Mercer's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mercer Mercer's is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Mercer Mercer's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative 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 Mercer Mercer's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.