Swot Analysis of "Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4)" written by Luann J. Lynch, Jennifer Forman, Graham Gillam includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Handout 4 facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Assessing performance, Balanced scorecard and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Handout 4, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Handout 4 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Handout 4
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 Handout 4
Strengths Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Handout 4 in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Handout 4 has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Handout 4 to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Handout 4 in the sector have low bargaining power. Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Handout 4 to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Handout 4 to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Handout 4 to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Handout 4
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Handout 4 does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Handout 4 has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Handout 4 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Handout 4 is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Handout 4 is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Handout 4 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Handout 4 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
– Handout 4 is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Handout 4 digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Handout 4 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Handout 4 is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Handout 4 is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) HBR case study mentions - Handout 4 takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Handout 4 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Handout 4 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. Handout 4 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Handout 4 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Handout 4 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Handout 4 is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Handout 4 needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Handout 4 to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 Handout 4 supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Handout 4 vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– Handout 4 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4), in the dynamic environment Handout 4 has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Handout 4 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Handout 4 has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) | 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) are -
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 Handout 4 in the consumer business. Now Handout 4 can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Handout 4 can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Handout 4 is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Handout 4 can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Handout 4 to increase its market reach. Handout 4 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Handout 4 can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Handout 4 operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Handout 4 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
– Handout 4 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Handout 4 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 Handout 4 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
– Handout 4 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Handout 4 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Handout 4 can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) are -
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. Handout 4 can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Handout 4 has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Handout 4 needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Handout 4 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Handout 4
– 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 Handout 4.
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. Handout 4 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Handout 4 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Handout 4 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Handout 4 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.
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 Handout 4 in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4), Handout 4 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 .
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 Handout 4.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) 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 Handout 4 needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
