Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry
The case follows the career path of Megha Malagatti, from her humble Indian origins as a member of the Dalit caste (known as "untouchables") to a senior management position in a French luxury goods company - an improbable journey that speaks to her personal strengths, skills and qualifications, as well as the possibilities open to young women to make a career in the luxury goods industry irrespective of their background. It opens a window on gender diversity in the executive suite, highlighting the company culture of S.T.Dupont and the CEO who mentored her.
Authors :: Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Antoine Tirard, Claire Harbour-Lyell
Swot Analysis of "Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry" written by Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Antoine Tirard, Claire Harbour-Lyell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Luxury Career facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Coaching, Emotional intelligence, Human resource management, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Luxury Career, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Luxury Career 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Luxury Career
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 Luxury Career
Strengths Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Luxury Career in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Luxury Career in the sector have low bargaining power. Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Luxury Career to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Luxury Career 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Luxury Career is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Luxury Career 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.
Organizational Resilience of Luxury Career
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Luxury Career does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Luxury Career is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Luxury Career 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 Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Antoine Tirard, Claire Harbour-Lyell 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 Luxury Career 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Luxury Career to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Luxury Career to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Luxury Career is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Luxury Career digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Luxury Career 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Luxury Career in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry are -
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 Luxury Career supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Luxury Career vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Luxury Career 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry HBR case study mentions - Luxury Career 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Luxury Career products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Luxury Career needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Luxury Career is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Luxury Career needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Luxury Career to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Luxury Career 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry 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 Luxury Career 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Luxury Career 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Luxury Career 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. Luxury Career 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Luxury Career, firm in the HBR case study Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry, it seems that the employees of Luxury Career 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Luxury Career to increase its market reach. Luxury Career 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Luxury Career can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Luxury Career operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Luxury Career 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Luxury Career 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Luxury Career 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 Luxury Career can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Luxury Career has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Luxury Career to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry case study. Luxury Career can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Luxury Career is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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.
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 Luxury Career in the consumer business. Now Luxury Career can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Luxury Career 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.
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. Luxury Career 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. Luxury Career 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Luxury Career 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Luxury Career 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.
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. Luxury Career can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Luxury Career demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
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 Luxury Career.
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. Luxury Career 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
– Luxury Career has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Luxury Career 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.
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.
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 Luxury Career in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline 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 Luxury Career 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Luxury Career is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry, Luxury Career 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Luxury Career 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury Industry .
Regulatory challenges
– Luxury Career 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.
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 Luxury Career business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Developing a (Second) Career and Leadership Skills in the Global Luxury 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 Luxury Career needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.