Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL
The founder of Cisca Engineering Limited (CEL), a Canadian engineering consulting firm, announced in 2017 that she would be retiring in the following year. The company's president was considering how to leverage his soon-to-be-expanded authority to ensure that the company's vision and core values would effectively drive the organization's culture. He wanted to avoid vision and mission statements that were simply posted on the company's website and had little resulting impact on employee behaviour. How could he lead the organization beyond defining core values and vision to infuse these principles throughout the organization and to mindfully build a strong organizational culture?
Swot Analysis of "Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL" written by Stephen D. Risavy, Karen MacMillan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cel Vision facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Strategy and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cel Vision, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cel Vision 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cel Vision
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cel Vision
Strengths Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cel Vision in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cel Vision 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cel Vision is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cel Vision 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cel Vision is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Cel Vision
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cel Vision does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Cel Vision has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cel Vision to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cel Vision has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cel Vision 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.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cel Vision digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cel Vision 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cel Vision 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cel Vision in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Cel Vision 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 Cel Vision is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cel Vision 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cel Vision 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cel Vision 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 - Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cel Vision is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cel Vision has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL, it seems that the employees of Cel Vision 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cel Vision 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL, in the dynamic environment Cel Vision has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cel Vision has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL HBR case study mentions - Cel Vision 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cel Vision is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Cel Vision needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cel Vision to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL | 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cel Vision has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cel Vision to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL case study. Cel Vision can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cel Vision 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 Organizational Development segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cel Vision 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cel Vision 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cel Vision 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cel Vision to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cel Vision can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cel Vision 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cel Vision can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
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. Cel Vision can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cel Vision is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cel Vision in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Cel Vision in the consumer business. Now Cel Vision can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cel Vision can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cel Vision operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Threats Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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. Cel Vision needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Cel Vision.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cel Vision has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cel Vision needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cel Vision in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development 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.
Environmental challenges
– Cel Vision 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. Cel Vision can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cel Vision 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cel Vision 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL, Cel Vision may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cel Vision 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cel Vision can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Cel Vision
– 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 Cel Vision.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Bringing Vision to Life: Culture Development at CEL 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 Cel Vision needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.