Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017)
This exercise assesses one's exposure to the rest of the world's peoples. A series of worksheets require the respondents to check off the number and names of countries they have visited and the corresponding percentage of world population which each country represents. By summing a group's collective exposure to the world's people, the result will inevitably be the recognition that together they have seen much, even if individually some have seen little. The teaching note provides assignments and discussion questions which look at: why there is such a high variability in individual profiles; the implications of each profile for one's business career; and, what it would take for the respondent to change his/her profile. For marketers, it underscores the need to gather greater base knowledge about opportunities abroad.
Swot Analysis of "Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017)" written by Paul W. Beamish includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Exposure Peoples facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Cross-cultural management, Leading teams and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Exposure Peoples, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Exposure Peoples 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Exposure Peoples
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 Exposure Peoples
Strengths Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Exposure Peoples in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Exposure Peoples in the sector have low bargaining power. Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Exposure Peoples to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Exposure Peoples 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 Exposure Peoples in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Exposure Peoples
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Exposure Peoples does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Exposure Peoples 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Exposure Peoples is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Exposure Peoples in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Exposure Peoples is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Exposure Peoples has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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.
Learning organization
- Exposure Peoples 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 Exposure Peoples is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Exposure Peoples 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.
High brand equity
– Exposure Peoples has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Exposure Peoples to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Exposure Peoples 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017), it seems that the employees of Exposure Peoples 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Exposure Peoples 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Exposure Peoples 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, Exposure Peoples 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Exposure Peoples 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Exposure Peoples, firm in the HBR case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Exposure Peoples 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Exposure Peoples 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 - Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Exposure Peoples is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Exposure Peoples products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Exposure Peoples needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) HBR case study mentions - Exposure Peoples 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.
Opportunities Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) | 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) are -
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. Exposure Peoples can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Exposure Peoples 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.
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. Exposure Peoples can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Exposure Peoples 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. Exposure Peoples 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Exposure Peoples can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Exposure Peoples can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Exposure Peoples 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Exposure Peoples has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Exposure Peoples to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) case study. Exposure Peoples can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Exposure Peoples 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Exposure Peoples is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Exposure Peoples 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.
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 Exposure Peoples 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Exposure Peoples 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 Exposure Peoples to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) are -
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. Exposure Peoples needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Exposure Peoples has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Exposure Peoples 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Exposure Peoples is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Exposure Peoples
– 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 Exposure Peoples.
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. Exposure Peoples can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Exposure Peoples in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Exposure Peoples 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. Exposure Peoples 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
– Exposure Peoples 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
– Exposure Peoples 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, Exposure Peoples 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017), Exposure Peoples 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 .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Where Have You Been? An Exercise to Assess Your Exposure to the Rest of the World's Peoples (2017) 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 Exposure Peoples needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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