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, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, 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 -
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gen Ys is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Training and development
– Gen Ys has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured 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 by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gen Ys 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Gen Ys is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? 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.
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 -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Gen Ys 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, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances 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?, it seems that the employees of Gen Ys don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gen Ys 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 - Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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 Gen Ys supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes 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?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gen Ys vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Gen Ys 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as 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?, is just above the industry average. Gen Ys 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gen Ys 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.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gen Ys 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 Organizational Development segment.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Gen Ys can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development 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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Gen Ys can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Gen Ys 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 Organizational Development industry regulations.
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.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Gen Ys 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. Gen Ys can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gen Ys has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gen Ys needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gen Ys in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of 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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