Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid
Following decades of civil strife among warring clans, and exacerbated by the worst drought in decades (2010-2012), millions of starving dislocated Somalis resided in crowded camps throughout the country. Humanitarian aid organizations made good-faith efforts to distribute food and medical treatment and supplies to those who suffered most. Almost always, however, these nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were thwarted by so-called gatekeepers, who, backed by military force, required that all aid be delivered first to themselves and only thereafter to the intended recipients, under conditions the gatekeeper set. This case summarizes the tactics used by the gatekeepers of Al-Shabaab (a cell of the radical Islamic group Al-Qaeda) in Somalia and the corresponding risks that the United Nations and NGOs had to confront.
Swot Analysis of "Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid" written by Keith Krehbiel includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gatekeepers Shabaab facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gatekeepers Shabaab, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gatekeepers Shabaab
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 Gatekeepers Shabaab
Strengths Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gatekeepers Shabaab in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Gatekeepers Shabaab
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gatekeepers Shabaab does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Gatekeepers Shabaab has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gatekeepers Shabaab to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gatekeepers Shabaab to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gatekeepers Shabaab digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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.
High brand equity
– Gatekeepers Shabaab has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gatekeepers Shabaab to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gatekeepers Shabaab in the sector have low bargaining power. Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gatekeepers Shabaab to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gatekeepers Shabaab is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 - Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid, it seems that the employees of Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Keith Krehbiel suggests that, Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gatekeepers Shabaab is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Gatekeepers Shabaab needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Gatekeepers Shabaab is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid, is just above the industry average. Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid, in the dynamic environment Gatekeepers Shabaab has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gatekeepers Shabaab has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid | 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gatekeepers Shabaab can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Gatekeepers Shabaab is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Gatekeepers Shabaab has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gatekeepers Shabaab 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. Gatekeepers Shabaab 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. Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
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. Gatekeepers Shabaab can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gatekeepers Shabaab to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Gatekeepers Shabaab with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Gatekeepers Shabaab in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Gatekeepers Shabaab can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Gatekeepers Shabaab
– 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Gatekeepers Shabaab has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gatekeepers Shabaab needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
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.
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 Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gatekeepers Shabaab 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Al-Shabaab, Gatekeepers, and the Ethics of Humanitarian Aid 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 Gatekeepers Shabaab needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.