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 - – increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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 -
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.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Atento Lifecycle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Atento Lifecycle has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Atento Lifecycle in the sector have low bargaining power. Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Atento Lifecycle to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Atento Lifecycle 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 Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
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.
Training and development
– Atento Lifecycle has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Atento Lifecycle 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 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 -
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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Atento Lifecycle 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento Lifecycle 's lucrative customers.
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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 Atento Lifecycle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Atento Lifecycle 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 - Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
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 -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Atento Lifecycle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Atento Lifecycle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Atento Lifecycle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Atento Lifecycle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Atento Lifecycle can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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 Atento Lifecycle in the consumer business. Now Atento Lifecycle can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Atento Lifecycle 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.
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.
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. Atento Lifecycle 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.
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 Atento Lifecycle business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
