Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case
In today's turbulent business environment, innovation and organizational renewal are key. Employees are encouraged to act as intrapreneurs (entrepreneurs within their employing unit or organization) and instigate change from the bottom up. However, accomplishing this company wide is highly challenging. In this article, we examine the case of Wehkamp, a Dutch e-tailer that overcame these challenges and succeeded in creating a flourishing climate for intrapreneurship. We describe the three-step chronological process for intensive change wherein the initiatives of some intrapreneurs can produce widely held organizational value for intrapreneurship. Key to this change process are three insights: (1) Team leaders can feed the incremental and radical initiative of the few; (2) top management can give meaning and guard fairness to stimulate overall intrapreneurship; and (3) corporate entrepreneurship can be used to continuously revive widespread intrapreneurship. Organizations seeking to encourage intrapreneurship from their employees can benefit from these guidelines.
Authors :: Jana Deprez, Hannes Leroy, Martin Euwema
Swot Analysis of "Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case" written by Jana Deprez, Hannes Leroy, Martin Euwema includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intrapreneurship Wehkamp facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intrapreneurship Wehkamp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp
Strengths Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Intrapreneurship Wehkamp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Intrapreneurship Wehkamp are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Jana Deprez, Hannes Leroy, Martin Euwema 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 brand equity
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Intrapreneurship Wehkamp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in the sector have low bargaining power. Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 - Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jana Deprez, Hannes Leroy, Martin Euwema suggests that, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case, is just above the industry average. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intrapreneurship Wehkamp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case | 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case case study. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in the consumer business. Now Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intrapreneurship Wehkamp to increase its market reach. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Threats Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Intrapreneurship Wehkamp is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Intrapreneurship Wehkamp
– 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp.
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. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Intrapreneurship Wehkamp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Intrapreneurship Wehkamp with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Intrapreneurship Wehkamp 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case 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 Intrapreneurship Wehkamp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of Three Chronological Steps Toward Encouraging Intrapreneurship: Lessons From the Wehkamp Case