Case Study Description of B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics
In 2016, the supply chain director of B-Kay Tech, a multinational company headquartered in Belgium, had devised a logistics innovation project based on collaborative shipping, through which partner companies' shipments could be proactively bundled in the same transport-without traditional, reactive third-party groups. With this system, any available space in one company's transport facility could be utilized to transport shipments for the other company, reducing the overall number of trucks used and positively impacting greenhouse gas emissions. For this collaboration, the director had identified a potential partner in WARE-TOUCH, a U.K.-based multinational company that produced and distributed everyday consumer goods throughout Europe and the Middle East. The supply chain director at B-Kay Tech had to propose a gainsharing mechanism to convince WARE-TOUCH that a collaboration between the two companies would have been beneficial. The authors Robert Boute and Tom Van Steendam are affiliated with Vlerick Business School. Stefan Creemers is affiliated with IESEG School of Management.
Authors :: Robert Boute, Tom Van Steendam, Stefan Creemers
Swot Analysis of "B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics" written by Robert Boute, Tom Van Steendam, Stefan Creemers includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kay Ware facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Operations management and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kay Ware, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kay Ware
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 Kay Ware
Strengths B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kay Ware in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Kay Ware 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 Kay Ware is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Kay Ware has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kay Ware to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Kay Ware 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 Kay Ware in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Kay Ware is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kay Ware in the sector have low bargaining power. B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kay Ware to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Kay Ware is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kay Ware has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kay Ware 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 Kay Ware in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kay Ware digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Kay Ware products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kay Ware needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kay Ware 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. Kay Ware 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Kay Ware 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Robert Boute, Tom Van Steendam, Stefan Creemers suggests that, Kay Ware 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kay Ware is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Kay Ware, firm in the HBR case study B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kay Ware 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 - B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kay Ware 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kay Ware is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Kay Ware needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kay Ware to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics HBR case study mentions - Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics, in the dynamic environment Kay Ware has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kay Ware has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics | 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Kay Ware 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kay Ware 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kay Ware 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kay Ware 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kay Ware to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kay Ware is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kay Ware to increase its market reach. Kay Ware 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Kay Ware can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kay Ware 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kay Ware 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kay Ware 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, B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kay Ware has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kay Ware to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics case study. Kay Ware can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kay Ware 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. Kay Ware 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.
Threats B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics are -
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 Kay Ware in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kay Ware is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kay Ware 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Kay Ware
– 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 Kay Ware.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics, Kay Ware may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
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. Kay Ware 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 Kay Ware.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kay Ware has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kay Ware needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
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. Kay Ware can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kay Ware 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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Kay Ware 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 B-Kay Tech: Horizontal Collaboration in Logistics 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 Kay Ware needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
