Swot Analysis of "Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil" written by F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, Pablo Casas-Arce, Christopher D. Ittner, Joshua Petersel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Atento Lifecycle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Atento Lifecycle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Atento Lifecycle
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 Atento Lifecycle
Strengths Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Atento Lifecycle in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento Lifecycle is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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
– Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento Lifecycle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Atento Lifecycle 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Atento Lifecycle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Atento Lifecycle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Atento Lifecycle is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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.
Organizational Resilience of Atento Lifecycle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Atento Lifecycle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Atento Lifecycle is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Atento Lifecycle in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Atento Lifecycle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Atento Lifecycle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Atento Lifecycle has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Atento Lifecycle 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 recruit top talent
– Atento Lifecycle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Atento Lifecycle, firm in the HBR case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Atento Lifecycle 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. Atento Lifecycle 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Atento Lifecycle 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Atento Lifecycle 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento Lifecycle is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Atento Lifecycle needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Atento Lifecycle to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Atento Lifecycle 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil, in the dynamic environment Atento Lifecycle has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Atento Lifecycle has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, Pablo Casas-Arce, Christopher D. Ittner, Joshua Petersel suggests that, Atento Lifecycle 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Atento Lifecycle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil | 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Atento Lifecycle 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Atento Lifecycle to increase its market reach. Atento Lifecycle 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
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
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 Atento Lifecycle 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
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
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. Atento Lifecycle can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Atento Lifecycle 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
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. Atento Lifecycle 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. Atento Lifecycle 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Atento Lifecycle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Atento Lifecycle to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil case study. Atento Lifecycle can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Atento Lifecycle to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Atento Lifecycle to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Atento Lifecycle 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Atento Lifecycle 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.
Threats Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil are -
Regulatory challenges
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
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 Atento Lifecycle.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Atento Lifecycle 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Atento Lifecycle has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Atento Lifecycle 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.
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. Atento Lifecycle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Atento Lifecycle 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. Atento Lifecycle can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Atento Lifecycle is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Atento Lifecycle 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. Atento Lifecycle needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
Increasing wage structure of Atento Lifecycle
– 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 Atento Lifecycle.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil, Atento Lifecycle 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 .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento Lifecycle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.