Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?
The case examines two major transitions currently taking place in Hong Kong-the transformation into a knowledge-based economy (KBE) and the replacement of the Gen Xers by the Gen Ys in the workplace. It sheds light on the skills that workers require and the strategies that government and industries should adopt to suitably develop a KBE. In doing so, the case elaborates on the policy initiatives Hong Kong has undertaken to create the desired human capital and to leverage innovation and technology across knowledge-based industries. It tabulates the key statistics and trends that enable manpower planning and projections. While the case presents issues arising in the workplace due to intergenerational differences between Gen X and Gen Y, it questions how Gen Ys can effectively replace the retiring baby boomers and aging Gen X workers. It aims to arouse the attention of human resource (HR) managers in coming up with the appropriate strategies to incorporate and motivate the Gen Ys to fill the gap. In the end, can both transitions be successful and sustained? Can the new generation help transform Hong Kong into a KBE?
Swot Analysis of "Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?" written by Derek Man, Zeba Khan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gen Ys facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Generational issues, Government, Human resource management, Innovation, Operations management, Strategic planning and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gen Ys, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gen Ys 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gen Ys
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Gen Ys
Strengths Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gen Ys in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gen Ys 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Gen Ys 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 Gen Ys is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Gen Ys 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 Derek Man, Zeba Khan 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 Organizational Development industry
– Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gen Ys to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gen Ys to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gen Ys is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gen Ys digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gen Ys 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Gen Ys has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Gen Ys 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.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Gen Ys 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 Gen Ys in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Gen Ys has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gen Ys to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Gen Ys
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gen Ys does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Gen Ys 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.
Weaknesses Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gen Ys 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. Gen Ys 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?, in the dynamic environment Gen Ys has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gen Ys has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Gen Ys has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gen Ys 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Gen Ys 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 Gen Ys is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Gen Ys needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gen Ys to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gen Ys is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Gen Ys 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Gen Ys products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gen Ys needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Gen Ys 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? | 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? are -
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 Gen Ys 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
– Gen Ys 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gen Ys 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 Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Gen Ys 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. Gen Ys 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gen Ys 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.
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 Gen Ys in the consumer business. Now Gen Ys can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gen Ys in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development 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 Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Gen Ys 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
– Gen Ys can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gen Ys can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gen Ys operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gen Ys can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Gen Ys 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.
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. Gen Ys can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gen Ys has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Gen Ys to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? case study. Gen Ys can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Gen Ys is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gen Ys 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.
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.
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 Gen Ys business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?, Gen Ys may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gen Ys with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gen Ys 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.
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 Gen Ys in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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 Gen Ys.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gen Ys 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? .
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. Gen Ys needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Gen Ys 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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 Gen Ys needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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