Swot Analysis of "Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change" written by Donna B. Stoddard, Sirkka Jarvenpaa includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Reengineering Conceptual facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business processes, Change management, IT, Strategy execution and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Reengineering Conceptual, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Reengineering Conceptual 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Reengineering Conceptual
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 Reengineering Conceptual
Strengths Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Reengineering Conceptual in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Reengineering Conceptual 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 Reengineering Conceptual is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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.
High brand equity
– Reengineering Conceptual has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Reengineering Conceptual to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Reengineering Conceptual is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Reengineering Conceptual to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Reengineering Conceptual to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Reengineering Conceptual 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 Donna B. Stoddard, Sirkka Jarvenpaa 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Reengineering Conceptual 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 Reengineering Conceptual in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Reengineering Conceptual is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Reengineering Conceptual is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Reengineering Conceptual has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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.
Weaknesses Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change, it seems that the employees of Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Reengineering Conceptual is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Reengineering Conceptual is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Reengineering Conceptual needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Reengineering Conceptual to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Reengineering Conceptual products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Reengineering Conceptual needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Reengineering Conceptual is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Reengineering Conceptual has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Reengineering Conceptual 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change, in the dynamic environment Reengineering Conceptual has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Reengineering Conceptual has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Donna B. Stoddard, Sirkka Jarvenpaa suggests that, Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Opportunities Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change | 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change are -
Manufacturing automation
– Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Reengineering Conceptual is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Reengineering Conceptual 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 Reengineering Conceptual to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Reengineering Conceptual 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.
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. Reengineering Conceptual can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Reengineering Conceptual in the consumer business. Now Reengineering Conceptual can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Reengineering Conceptual can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Reengineering Conceptual can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Reengineering Conceptual operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Reengineering Conceptual can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Reengineering Conceptual has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Reengineering Conceptual to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change case study. Reengineering Conceptual can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Threats Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change are -
Environmental challenges
– Reengineering Conceptual 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. Reengineering Conceptual 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 Reengineering Conceptual business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Reengineering Conceptual 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Increasing wage structure of Reengineering Conceptual
– 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 Reengineering Conceptual.
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 Reengineering Conceptual in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Reengineering Conceptual needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Reengineering Conceptual.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Reengineering Conceptual 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.
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. Reengineering Conceptual 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 Reengineering Conceptual is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Reengineering Conceptual 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change 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 Reengineering Conceptual needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.