To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market
The case examines the reforms to the French labour code made by President Emmanuel Macron after his election in April 2017, essentially designed to loosen restrictions on hiring and firing. The new laws gave smaller companies more flexibility in negotiating wages and conditions directly with employees (rather than being bound by industry-wide collective deals negotiated by trade unions) and the right to lay off workers in periods of economic difficulty. In the context of an upturn, Macron was hoping the reforms would encourage foreign investment such as financial institutions relocating in response to Brexit. He resorted to issuing executive decrees (ordonnances) to avoid the massive street protests typically sparked by macro-economic adjustments in France, ultimately consolidating his leadership at home and in the larger European Union.
Authors :: Morten Bennedsen, Brian Henry, Alexandra Roulet, Mark Stabile
Swot Analysis of "To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market" written by Morten Bennedsen, Brian Henry, Alexandra Roulet, Mark Stabile includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Macron Reforms facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Labor, Negotiations and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Macron Reforms, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Macron Reforms 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Macron Reforms
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Macron Reforms
Strengths To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Macron Reforms in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Macron Reforms has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Macron Reforms to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Macron Reforms is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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.
Learning organization
- Macron Reforms 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 Macron Reforms is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Macron Reforms
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Macron Reforms does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Macron Reforms 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 Macron Reforms in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Macron Reforms 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 Morten Bennedsen, Brian Henry, Alexandra Roulet, Mark Stabile 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Macron Reforms to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Macron Reforms to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Macron Reforms 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Macron Reforms is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Macron Reforms digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Macron Reforms 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Macron Reforms in the sector have low bargaining power. To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Macron Reforms to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Macron Reforms is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Macron Reforms needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Macron Reforms to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Macron Reforms has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Macron Reforms 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market, in the dynamic environment Macron Reforms has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Macron Reforms has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Macron Reforms, firm in the HBR case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Morten Bennedsen, Brian Henry, Alexandra Roulet, Mark Stabile suggests that, Macron Reforms 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 Macron Reforms has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Macron Reforms supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Macron Reforms vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Macron Reforms 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Macron Reforms is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market | 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Macron Reforms in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Macron Reforms can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Macron Reforms operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
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 Macron Reforms in the consumer business. Now Macron Reforms can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Macron Reforms 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Macron Reforms can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Macron Reforms to increase its market reach. Macron Reforms 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Macron Reforms 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Macron Reforms 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, To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Macron Reforms 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Macron Reforms to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Macron Reforms 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. Macron Reforms 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Macron Reforms is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Macron Reforms 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Macron Reforms can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market are -
Increasing wage structure of Macron Reforms
– 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 Macron Reforms.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Macron Reforms with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Macron Reforms needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Macron Reforms 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Macron Reforms in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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. Macron Reforms 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Macron Reforms high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Macron Reforms 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market, Macron Reforms may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Macron Reforms 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 Macron Reforms is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Macron Reforms 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Macron Reforms 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 To Reduce Unemployment, French President Macron Reforms the Labour Market 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 Macron Reforms needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.