Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access
In 2011, Chile's Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Jorge Atton, was considering adopting a different policy toward regulating competition in Internet services than previously applied to voice telephony. Atton headed Chile's telecommunications regulatory agency, SUBTEL. For the past two decades, SUBTEL had encouraged the emergence of competition in telephone services in part by forcing the incumbent telephone company to give new entrants to the industry access to its customers. SUBTEL had circulated for public comment consultation document that raised the possibility of imposing "open access" requirements on the providers of broadband Internet services. This case discusses the debate over open access in Chile. This case can be used with the accompanying teaching note (HKS 878). HKS Case Number 1955.0.
Authors :: Jorge Tarzijan Martabit, Jose Gomez-Ibanez
Swot Analysis of "Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access" written by Jorge Tarzijan Martabit, Jose Gomez-Ibanez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Subtel Atton facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economics, International business, Regulation, Technology and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Subtel Atton, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Subtel Atton 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Subtel Atton
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 Subtel Atton
Strengths Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Subtel Atton in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Subtel Atton 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
– Subtel Atton has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Subtel Atton 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Subtel Atton to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Subtel Atton to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Subtel Atton has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Subtel Atton to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Subtel Atton 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Subtel Atton has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Subtel Atton in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Subtel Atton 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 Subtel Atton is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Subtel Atton
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Subtel Atton does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Subtel Atton is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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
– Subtel Atton 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 Subtel Atton in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Subtel Atton 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Subtel Atton 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Subtel Atton, firm in the HBR case study Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Subtel Atton 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Subtel Atton 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access HBR case study mentions - Subtel Atton takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Subtel Atton has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Subtel Atton 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. Subtel Atton 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Subtel Atton 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jorge Tarzijan Martabit, Jose Gomez-Ibanez suggests that, Subtel Atton is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access, is just above the industry average. Subtel Atton 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access, in the dynamic environment Subtel Atton has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Subtel Atton has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access | 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Subtel Atton 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Subtel Atton 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 Subtel Atton to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Subtel Atton 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Subtel Atton to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
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. Subtel Atton 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. Subtel Atton 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Subtel Atton 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
– Subtel Atton can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Subtel Atton has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Subtel Atton to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access case study. Subtel Atton can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Subtel Atton 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Subtel Atton to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Subtel Atton 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Subtel Atton 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.
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. Subtel Atton can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Subtel Atton can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access are -
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. Subtel Atton 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Subtel Atton 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.
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 Subtel Atton in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Subtel Atton 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. Subtel Atton can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Subtel Atton business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Subtel Atton.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Subtel Atton 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Subtel Atton 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Subtel Atton 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. Subtel Atton needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Subtel Atton
– 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 Subtel Atton.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Subtel Atton 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Subtel Atton with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Regulating Broadband in Chile: The Debate Over Open Access 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 Subtel Atton needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.