Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers
In recent years, globalization of businesses has occurred faster than the internationalization of business schools-in terms of faculty, students, and curriculum. Indeed, there is now a disconnect between global economic realities and the ability of business schools to produce global managers. This article discusses mission-based strategies for international business education and proposes opportunities that increase global awareness, global understanding, and global competence through student and faculty engagement and development. These changes will advance business schools' mission of producing global managers.
Swot Analysis of "Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers" written by Ben L. Kedia, Paula D. Englis includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Global Schools facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Global Schools, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Global Schools 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Global Schools
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 Global Schools
Strengths Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Global Schools in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Global Schools is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Global Schools to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Global Schools to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Global Schools 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 Ben L. Kedia, Paula D. Englis 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Global Schools in the sector have low bargaining power. Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Global Schools to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Global Schools in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Global Schools are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Global Schools has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Global Schools to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Global Schools 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.
Learning organization
- Global Schools 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 Global Schools is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Global Schools is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Global Schools has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Global Schools 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Global Schools 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. Global Schools 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Global Schools 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.
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 Global Schools supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Global Schools vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Global Schools 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Global Schools 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Global Schools products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Global Schools needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, is just above the industry average. Global Schools 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Global Schools is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Global Schools needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Global Schools to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, it seems that the employees of Global Schools don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, in the dynamic environment Global Schools has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Global Schools has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Opportunities Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers | 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Global Schools has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Global Schools to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Global Schools 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Global Schools can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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, Global Schools is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Global Schools can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Global Schools to increase its market reach. Global Schools 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
– Global Schools 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Global Schools can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Global Schools operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
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 Global Schools 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Global Schools 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Global Schools 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Global Schools can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Global Schools 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. Global Schools 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.
Threats Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers are -
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 Global Schools business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Global Schools is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Global Schools 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers .
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.
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. Global Schools needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Global Schools
– 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 Global Schools.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Global Schools in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
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. Global Schools 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.
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 Global Schools in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Global Schools 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 Global Schools with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers, Global Schools may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Global Schools 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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 Transforming Business Education to Produce Global Managers 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 Global Schools needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
