UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships
Investigates managing large supply chain outsourcing relationships over time, while focusing on the challenges service providers and their customers face as they seek to continually find new sources of value as the relationships change. Emphasis is placed on issues related to coordinated capabilities across functional boundaries, information sharing, and developing information technology readiness.
Authors :: Mark Lewis, Arun Rai, David Forquer, Dan Quinter
Swot Analysis of "UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships" written by Mark Lewis, Arun Rai, David Forquer, Dan Quinter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Relationships Supply facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Managing people, Operations management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Relationships Supply, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Relationships Supply 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Relationships Supply
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 Relationships Supply
Strengths UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Relationships Supply in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Relationships Supply has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Relationships Supply to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Relationships Supply has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Relationships Supply 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Relationships Supply is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Relationships Supply 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 Relationships Supply is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Relationships Supply 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 Mark Lewis, Arun Rai, David Forquer, Dan Quinter 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Relationships Supply 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Relationships Supply is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Relationships Supply 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Relationships Supply in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Relationships Supply 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Relationships Supply is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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.
Weaknesses UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Relationships Supply is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Relationships Supply products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Relationships Supply needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Relationships Supply 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 - UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Relationships Supply supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Relationships Supply vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Relationships Supply 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 Relationships Supply 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships, in the dynamic environment Relationships Supply has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Relationships Supply has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Relationships Supply 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
Relationships Supply 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Relationships Supply has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Relationships Supply is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships | 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Relationships Supply 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Relationships Supply 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Relationships Supply can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Relationships Supply 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Relationships Supply 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Relationships Supply 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 Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Relationships Supply 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. Relationships Supply 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 Relationships Supply 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 Relationships Supply to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Relationships Supply 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, UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Relationships Supply can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Relationships Supply operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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. Relationships Supply 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 Relationships Supply can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Relationships Supply is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Relationships Supply has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Relationships Supply to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships case study. Relationships Supply can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Relationships Supply 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Relationships Supply 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.
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 Relationships Supply business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 Relationships Supply.
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. Relationships Supply needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Relationships Supply has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Relationships Supply 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.
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 Relationships Supply
– 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 Relationships Supply.
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. Relationships Supply can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Relationships Supply 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Relationships Supply 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.
Environmental challenges
– Relationships Supply 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. Relationships Supply can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 UPS and HP: Value Creation Through Supply Chain Partnerships 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 Relationships Supply needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
