Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry
This case focuses on Hilton's corporate response to the global problem of human trafficking in the hospitality industry. It outlines Hilton's responses to date and discusses the company's human rights policies and forward-looking anti-trafficking initiatives. These include matters such as revising Hilton's internal code of conduct and related policies and procedures, training employees to detect and report trafficking activities, collaborating with anti-trafficking NGOs and civil society organizations, and developing means to enhance scrutiny of partners, vendors, and suppliers. The case ends with the protagonist, Hilton's vice president of corporate responsibility, considering a variety of potential decisions and next steps to implement them.
Authors :: David Nersessian
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: Business law, Crisis management, International business, Risk management, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry" written by David Nersessian includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Trafficking Hilton's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business law, Crisis management, International business, Risk management, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Trafficking Hilton's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Trafficking Hilton's 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Trafficking Hilton's
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 Trafficking Hilton's
Strengths Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Trafficking Hilton's in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Trafficking Hilton's is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by David Nersessian can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Trafficking Hilton's in the sector have low bargaining power. Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Trafficking Hilton's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Trafficking Hilton's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Trafficking Hilton's 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 Trafficking Hilton's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Trafficking Hilton's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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.
Training and development
– Trafficking Hilton's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Trafficking Hilton's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Trafficking Hilton's 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 Trafficking Hilton's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Trafficking Hilton's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Trafficking Hilton's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Trafficking Hilton's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Trafficking Hilton's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Trafficking Hilton's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Trafficking Hilton's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Trafficking Hilton's 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry, is just above the industry average. Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Trafficking Hilton's 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 - Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Trafficking Hilton's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry HBR case study mentions - Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Trafficking Hilton's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry, it seems that the employees of Trafficking Hilton's 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry | 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry are -
Manufacturing automation
– Trafficking Hilton's 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.
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 Trafficking Hilton's in the consumer business. Now Trafficking Hilton's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Trafficking Hilton's to increase its market reach. Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Trafficking Hilton's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Trafficking Hilton's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Trafficking Hilton's 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Trafficking Hilton's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Trafficking Hilton's 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. Trafficking Hilton's 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
– Trafficking Hilton's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Trafficking Hilton's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Trafficking Hilton's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Trafficking Hilton's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry case study. Trafficking Hilton's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Trafficking Hilton's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry are -
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Trafficking Hilton's in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Trafficking Hilton's 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 Trafficking Hilton's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Trafficking Hilton's 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. Trafficking Hilton's will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Trafficking Hilton's 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. Trafficking Hilton's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Trafficking Hilton's in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Trafficking Hilton's
– 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 Trafficking Hilton's.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Trafficking Hilton's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Trafficking Hilton's 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.
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. Trafficking Hilton's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Hilton: Combating Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Industry 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 Trafficking Hilton's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.