Case Study Description of Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement
Queues in a service process represent an unmet customer need and can detract from the value an organization provides. In this article, we present a framework based on three principles for managing customer queues to reduce the discomfort experienced while waiting: (1) eliminate or reduce the wait through process enhancements, (2) manage expectations through timely and relevant communication with one's customers, and (3) enhance the waiting experience. We provide examples of historical and recent innovations along all three dimensions in multiple situations and suggest practical approaches for managers to add additional value to customers while they wait.
Swot Analysis of "Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement" written by Elliott N. Weiss, Chad Tucker includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Queues Waiting facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Queues Waiting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Queues Waiting 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Queues Waiting
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Queues Waiting
Strengths Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Queues Waiting in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Queues Waiting in the sector have low bargaining power. Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Queues Waiting to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Queues Waiting has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Queues Waiting to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Queues Waiting
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Queues Waiting does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Queues Waiting 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Queues Waiting has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Queues Waiting digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Queues Waiting 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 Queues Waiting in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Queues Waiting 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 Queues Waiting is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Queues Waiting to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Queues Waiting to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Queues Waiting 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Queues Waiting is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Queues Waiting has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Queues Waiting 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.
Weaknesses Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement, in the dynamic environment Queues Waiting has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Queues Waiting has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queues Waiting 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Queues Waiting 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. Queues Waiting 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement, is just above the industry average. Queues Waiting 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Queues Waiting 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Queues Waiting, firm in the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Queues Waiting 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Queues Waiting products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Queues Waiting needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Queues Waiting 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 - Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement, it seems that the employees of Queues Waiting 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement | 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Queues Waiting 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 Queues Waiting to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Queues Waiting is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Queues Waiting 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Queues Waiting in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Queues Waiting can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Queues Waiting 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Queues Waiting can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Queues Waiting has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Queues Waiting to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement case study. Queues Waiting can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Queues Waiting can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Queues Waiting 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Queues Waiting to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Queues Waiting can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Queues Waiting 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 Strategy & Execution segment.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Queues Waiting can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Queues Waiting can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Queues Waiting is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Queues Waiting 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
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 Queues Waiting.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Queues Waiting 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 Queues Waiting business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Queues Waiting in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Queues Waiting with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement, Queues Waiting may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
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
– Queues Waiting 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. Queues Waiting can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Queues Waiting 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Queues Waiting in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queue Management: Elimination, Expectation, and Enhancement 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 Queues Waiting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
