Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A)
This two-part case deals with the events surrounding the monitoring by Human Rights Watch (HRW) of human rights violations targeting Rohingya Muslims in Burma in October 2012. The case focuses on HRW's decision to publish a report of the situation and the impact of that report in Burma and abroad. While most human rights violation investigations are 'business as usual' for HRW, the situation presented in this case was different: the primary material for the investigation was satellite imagery, not the eyewitness reports typically used by HRW. The case is designed to stimulate discussion of value creation by NGOs, the effect of technological development on NGO operations, and the development of new capabilities by NGOs. It also introduces students to human rights issues, a topic rarely discussed in business schools. Part A provides background to address questions concerning (1) whether or not HRW should report the violations and (2) how satellite imagery can provide sufficient evidence to raise awareness of a situation. Part B covers the impact of the report on the situation by looking at the response from the media, the United Nations, the United States, and the Government of Burma. The case also sheds light on the challenges faced by HRW in the fulfillment of its mission.
Swot Analysis of "Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A)" written by Yves Plourde, Shoma Patnaik includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hrw Burma facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Technology and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hrw Burma, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hrw Burma 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hrw Burma
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hrw Burma
Strengths Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hrw Burma in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hrw Burma in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hrw Burma has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hrw Burma 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hrw Burma to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hrw Burma to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hrw Burma is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Hrw Burma 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 Hrw Burma in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hrw Burma 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hrw Burma digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hrw Burma 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.
Learning organization
- Hrw Burma 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 Hrw Burma is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hrw Burma is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hrw Burma in the sector have low bargaining power. Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hrw Burma to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Hrw Burma 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Hrw Burma has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hrw Burma products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hrw Burma needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hrw Burma, firm in the HBR case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Hrw Burma 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Yves Plourde, Shoma Patnaik suggests that, Hrw Burma 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hrw Burma 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), is just above the industry average. Hrw Burma 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), in the dynamic environment Hrw Burma has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hrw Burma has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
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 Hrw Burma supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hrw Burma vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), it seems that the employees of Hrw Burma don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) | 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hrw Burma 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. Hrw Burma 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hrw Burma is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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.
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. Hrw Burma can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hrw Burma to increase its market reach. Hrw Burma will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
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 Hrw Burma in the consumer business. Now Hrw Burma can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Hrw Burma can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hrw Burma can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hrw Burma operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hrw Burma 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Hrw Burma 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Hrw Burma 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hrw Burma has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hrw Burma to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) case study. Hrw Burma can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hrw Burma 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 Hrw Burma 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.
Threats Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hrw Burma has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hrw Burma needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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 Hrw Burma.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hrw Burma 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hrw Burma 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hrw Burma 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.
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 Hrw Burma business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hrw Burma in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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 Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Hrw Burma can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Hrw Burma 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 Global Business 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 Hrw Burma in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A), Hrw Burma may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
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. Hrw Burma needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Human Rights Watch: The Burma Situation (A) 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 Hrw Burma needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
