Case Study Description of Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide
In 2016, Bossard AG was a leading wholesaler and supply chain service provider for fasteners. Its business model aimed to improve the efficiency of clients' manufacturing operations by applying Industry 4.0 technologies to integrate the delivery of the highest quality screws, nuts, and bolts with logistics solutions for supply chains, and technical solutions for product designs using fasteners. Bossard's key selling point was its ability to enhance its clients' consumable parts management, thus reducing their total costs of ownership. Bossard had been successful in Europe, but found the Chinese market difficult to penetrate. The company was looking for better ways to deliver value to Chinese industrial customers. Klaus Meyer is affiliated with China Europe International Business School.
Swot Analysis of "Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide" written by Klaus Meyer, Alexandra Han includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bossard 4.0 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Supply chain and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bossard 4.0, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bossard 4.0
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bossard 4.0
Strengths Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bossard 4.0 in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bossard 4.0 is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Bossard 4.0 has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bossard 4.0 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bossard 4.0 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bossard 4.0 to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bossard 4.0 to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bossard 4.0 in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Bossard 4.0 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bossard 4.0 has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bossard 4.0 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.
Learning organization
- Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard 4.0 is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bossard 4.0 digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bossard 4.0 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.
Weaknesses Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide are -
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 Bossard 4.0 supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bossard 4.0 vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bossard 4.0 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. Bossard 4.0 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bossard 4.0 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 - Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bossard 4.0 is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Bossard 4.0 needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bossard 4.0 to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Bossard 4.0 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Bossard 4.0 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bossard 4.0 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Klaus Meyer, Alexandra Han suggests that, Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard 4.0 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bossard 4.0, firm in the HBR case study Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bossard 4.0 has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide | 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide are -
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 Bossard 4.0 in the consumer business. Now Bossard 4.0 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 Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard 4.0 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bossard 4.0 in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Bossard 4.0 can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bossard 4.0 can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bossard 4.0 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard 4.0 to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bossard 4.0 is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bossard 4.0 can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Bossard 4.0 can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bossard 4.0 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bossard 4.0 to increase its market reach. Bossard 4.0 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.
Threats Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide are -
Environmental challenges
– Bossard 4.0 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. Bossard 4.0 can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bossard 4.0 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide, Bossard 4.0 may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bossard 4.0 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bossard 4.0 is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Bossard 4.0 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Bossard 4.0 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.
Increasing wage structure of Bossard 4.0
– 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 Bossard 4.0.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bossard 4.0 can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bossard 4.0 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bossard 4.0 needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
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 Bossard 4.0 in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bossard 4.0 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard AG: Enabling Industry 4.0 Logistics, Worldwide 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 Bossard 4.0 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
