Case Study Description of Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges
In 2014, General Motors (GM) announced that semi-autonomous technology, named Super Cruise, would be released in the upcoming 2016 Cadillac CT6 model. But prior to release, the world saw its first death involving semi-autonomous technology, with Tesla's Autopilot. This highlighted the ethical, regulatory, and business considerations related to semi-autonomous technology. The case frames an opportunity to assess whether and when GM should release Super Cruise, and what might justify that decision. Students can draw from case information about Tesla and Google, which exemplify radically different strategies to releasing autonomous vehicles.
Authors :: Jacqueline Orr, Ali Abbas, Jeremy B. Dann
Swot Analysis of "Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges" written by Jacqueline Orr, Ali Abbas, Jeremy B. Dann includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Autonomous Semi facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Disruptive innovation, Ethics and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Autonomous Semi, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Autonomous Semi
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Autonomous Semi
Strengths Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Autonomous Semi in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Autonomous Semi has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Autonomous Semi to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Autonomous Semi has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Autonomous Semi 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Autonomous Semi is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Semi in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Autonomous Semi is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Autonomous Semi 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 Jacqueline Orr, Ali Abbas, Jeremy B. Dann 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.
Organizational Resilience of Autonomous Semi
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Autonomous Semi does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Semi is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Autonomous Semi products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Autonomous Semi needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges HBR case study mentions - Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges, in the dynamic environment Autonomous Semi has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Autonomous Semi has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Autonomous Semi 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Autonomous Semi 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Autonomous Semi 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Autonomous Semi has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Autonomous Semi supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Autonomous Semi vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Autonomous Semi 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. Autonomous Semi 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, Autonomous Semi 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Autonomous Semi is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Autonomous Semi needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Autonomous Semi to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges | 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Autonomous Semi can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Autonomous Semi can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Autonomous Semi 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, Autonomous Semi can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Autonomous Semi operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Autonomous Semi to increase its market reach. Autonomous Semi 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Autonomous Semi has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Autonomous Semi to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges case study. Autonomous Semi can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Autonomous Semi to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Semi to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Autonomous Semi can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Loyalty marketing
– Autonomous Semi 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.
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 Autonomous Semi 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Autonomous Semi 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Autonomous Semi can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Semi in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Autonomous Semi 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges, Autonomous Semi may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Increasing wage structure of Autonomous Semi
– 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 Autonomous Semi.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Autonomous Semi 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Autonomous Semi 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Autonomous Semi has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Autonomous Semi needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Environmental challenges
– Autonomous Semi 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. Autonomous Semi can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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. Autonomous Semi needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Autonomous Semi in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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 Autonomous Vehicles: Technological Changes and Ethical Challenges 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 Autonomous Semi needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
