Case Study Description of Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation
In April 2015, a legal associate at Spitzberg Elevators Corporation, a U.S. corporation operating in Hong Kong, was tasked with recommending how the company should respond to Hong Kong's new anti-competition legislation, which was scheduled to be enacted within eight months. The legal associate first needed to review the legislation, specifically the key portions that could have an impact on her company's imminent plans to bid on several elevator contracts. She also needed to decide whether to recommend the company take a proactive stand by complying with the not-yet-enacted legislation or continue to comply with the current rules until the new legislation would take effect.
Swot Analysis of "Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation" written by Brian C. Pinkham, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Legislation Spitzberg facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Manufacturing, Negotiations and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Legislation Spitzberg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Legislation Spitzberg
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Legislation Spitzberg
Strengths Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Legislation Spitzberg in Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Legislation Spitzberg is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Legislation Spitzberg 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 Legislation Spitzberg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Legislation Spitzberg to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Legislation Spitzberg to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Legislation Spitzberg 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.
High brand equity
– Legislation Spitzberg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Legislation Spitzberg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Legislation Spitzberg
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Legislation Spitzberg does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Legislation Spitzberg 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 Legislation Spitzberg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Legislation Spitzberg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Legislation Spitzberg has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Legislation Spitzberg, firm in the HBR case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation, is just above the industry average. Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation, in the dynamic environment Legislation Spitzberg has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Legislation Spitzberg has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Legislation Spitzberg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Legislation Spitzberg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Legislation Spitzberg needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Legislation Spitzberg has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Legislation Spitzberg 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Legislation Spitzberg 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. Legislation Spitzberg 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Opportunities Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation | 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Legislation Spitzberg has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Legislation Spitzberg to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation case study. Legislation Spitzberg can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Legislation Spitzberg can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Legislation Spitzberg is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Legislation Spitzberg 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, Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Legislation Spitzberg 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.
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 Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Legislation Spitzberg to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Legislation Spitzberg in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Legislation Spitzberg can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Legislation Spitzberg can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Legislation Spitzberg 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 Global Business segment.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Legislation Spitzberg 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. Legislation Spitzberg 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Legislation Spitzberg can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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.
Threats Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation are -
Environmental challenges
– Legislation Spitzberg 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. Legislation Spitzberg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Legislation Spitzberg with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Legislation Spitzberg 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Legislation Spitzberg
– 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 Legislation Spitzberg.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation, Legislation Spitzberg may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
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 Legislation Spitzberg in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Legislation Spitzberg 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.
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. Legislation Spitzberg needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Legislation Spitzberg 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation .
Regulatory challenges
– Legislation Spitzberg 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Legislation Spitzberg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Spitzberg Elevators Corporation: Responding to Antitrust Legislation 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 Legislation Spitzberg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.