Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do
Longfor, a real estate company in China, treats every customer as an individual with distinctive tastes, preferences and needs; the homes it designs emphasize aesthetics, comfort, landscaping and lifestyle in a holistic way. Likewise, its organizational culture emphasizes equality and professionalism in a country where hierarchy and deference to authority are the norm. Its approach to HR (recruitment, training, evaluation, compensation, role-modeling) is completely at odds with common practice in China. The case asks: Is it possible to succeed in business with an organizational culture that is alien to the society in which the company operates? How can emotional capital be generated and embedded in a company to facilitate strategic innovation?
Authors :: Yidi Guo, Quy Huy, Lisa Duke, Xiao Zhixing
Swot Analysis of "Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do" written by Yidi Guo, Quy Huy, Lisa Duke, Xiao Zhixing includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Longfor Romans facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Creativity, Innovation, Organizational culture, Organizational structure, Psychology and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Longfor Romans, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Longfor Romans 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Longfor Romans
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Longfor Romans
Strengths Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Longfor Romans in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Longfor Romans is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Longfor Romans 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Longfor Romans digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Longfor Romans 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Longfor Romans has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Longfor Romans 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Longfor Romans is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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
- Longfor Romans 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 Longfor Romans is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Longfor Romans to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Longfor Romans to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Longfor Romans has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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
– Longfor Romans 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor Romans in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Longfor Romans 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 Longfor Romans in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Longfor Romans is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Longfor Romans 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 - Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Longfor Romans is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Longfor Romans 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Longfor Romans 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Longfor Romans 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do, is just above the industry average. Longfor Romans needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on 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 Longfor Romans supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Longfor Romans vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yidi Guo, Quy Huy, Lisa Duke, Xiao Zhixing suggests that, Longfor Romans 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor Romans 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do HBR case study mentions - Longfor Romans 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do, in the dynamic environment Longfor Romans has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Longfor Romans has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do | 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Longfor Romans is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Longfor Romans 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Longfor Romans 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Longfor Romans 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 Longfor Romans to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Longfor Romans 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Longfor Romans can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Longfor Romans can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Longfor Romans 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Longfor Romans to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Longfor Romans in the consumer business. Now Longfor Romans can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Longfor Romans can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Longfor Romans can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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.
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. Longfor Romans can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Longfor Romans in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Longfor Romans 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Longfor Romans 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Longfor Romans is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Longfor Romans 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Longfor Romans
– 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 Longfor Romans.
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. Longfor Romans needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Longfor Romans can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Longfor Romans business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Longfor Romans in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Longfor Romans 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Longfor Romans 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Longfor Romans in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor: A Non-Traditional Company in China - When in Rome, Do Not Do What the Romans Do 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 Longfor Romans needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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