MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business
Given the importance of global education, colleges and universities are faced with increasing pressure from various stakeholders to internationalize their campus. The dean of the Grant MacEwan School of Business is faced with the task of internationalizing the school. Her job is doubly difficult as the school is implementing a strategic move towards becoming a baccalaureate-granting institution, and upgrading its available international programs. The application of standard business models of SWOT and PEST analysis, examining the multi-dimensionality of "internationalization" and its application in the non-profit sector, and development of defined benchmarks to evaluate the success of any expansion efforts are all areas that the dean should consider in making her recommendations.
Authors :: Ilan Alon, Mike Henry, Kimberley Howard
Swot Analysis of "MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business" written by Ilan Alon, Mike Henry, Kimberley Howard includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Macewan School facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Marketing and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Macewan School, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Macewan School 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Macewan School
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Macewan School
Strengths MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Macewan School in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Macewan School 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 Ilan Alon, Mike Henry, Kimberley Howard 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
– Macewan School has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Macewan School in the sector have low bargaining power. MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Macewan School to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Macewan School 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 Macewan School in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Macewan School is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 Macewan School in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Macewan School digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Macewan School 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Macewan School 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Macewan School has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Macewan School to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Macewan School has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Macewan School 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Macewan School 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.
Weaknesses MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Macewan School is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Macewan School 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 - MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Macewan School 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Macewan School is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Macewan School supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Macewan School vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ilan Alon, Mike Henry, Kimberley Howard suggests that, Macewan School 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Macewan School 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Macewan School, firm in the HBR case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business, is just above the industry average. Macewan School 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 Macewan School has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Macewan School 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.
Opportunities MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business | 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Macewan School can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Macewan School operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Macewan School 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Macewan School in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Macewan School 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.
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 Macewan School 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
– Macewan School can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Macewan School can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Macewan School to increase its market reach. Macewan School 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Macewan School 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Macewan School 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. Macewan School 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Macewan School 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 Global Business 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 Macewan School in the consumer business. Now Macewan School can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Macewan School has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Macewan School to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business case study. Macewan School can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business are -
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. Macewan School 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.
Environmental challenges
– Macewan School 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. Macewan School can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Macewan School 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.
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. Macewan School needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Macewan School can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Macewan School can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Macewan School is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Macewan School 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Macewan School 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 Macewan School.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Macewan School 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 MacEwan Goes Global: Internationalization at a Canadian School of Business 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 Macewan School needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.