Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B)
Ho Tak Kee, originally a professional publisher and printer that started back in the 1950s in Hong Kong, faced static performance for decades. This forced the founder and grandfather of the family to decide to close down the printing department. This decision pushed his youngest son, On-ping, to a critical point resolving whether and how to continue the family business. Under pressure, On-ping turned to his son John for support but the request put John in a difficult position of choosing between a professional career and the family business. As a young man without much life and work experience, John had to go through a personal development process to shape up as a leader to be able to make the family business thrive again and keep the family together, while formulating his entrepreneurial vision for the future of the business and family. Case (A) runs from John's point of view as his is making his decision and is intended to stimulate students to look at a family business from a third generation's perspective. Case (B) starts with John's decision to join Ho Tak Kee.
Swot Analysis of "Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B)" written by Kevin Au, Barbara Li includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Family Kee facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Succession planning and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Family Kee, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Family Kee
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 Family Kee
Strengths Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Family Kee in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Family Kee
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Family Kee does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Family Kee 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 Kevin Au, Barbara Li 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 Family Kee in the sector have low bargaining power. Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Family Kee to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Family Kee has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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.
Learning organization
- Family Kee 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 Family Kee is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Family Kee is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Family Kee to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Family Kee to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Family Kee digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Family Kee 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management
– Family Kee is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Family Kee 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 - Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Family Kee is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Family Kee 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kevin Au, Barbara Li suggests that, Family Kee 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Family Kee has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B), it seems that the employees of Family Kee 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) HBR case study mentions - Family Kee takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Family Kee, firm in the HBR case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Family Kee has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B), 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Family Kee has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) | 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Family Kee 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Family Kee 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, Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Family Kee 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Family Kee 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.
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. Family Kee can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Family Kee 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Family Kee can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
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. Family Kee can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Family Kee in the consumer business. Now Family Kee can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Family Kee to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Family Kee 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Family Kee 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.
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. Family Kee 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. Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) are -
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 Family Kee in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Family Kee has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Family Kee 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Family Kee 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 Family Kee
– 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 Family Kee.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Family Kee 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Family Kee needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Global Business industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Family Kee 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.
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. Family Kee can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Family Kee 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Family Kee 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B), Family Kee 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Ho Tak Kee Book Co. Ltd. - A Third Generation at a Crossroads (B) 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 Family Kee needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
