Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society
For many decades, the automobile industry had played a major role in Canada's economy. A large portion of Canadian jobs depended on the auto industry, both directly and indirectly. However, by 2005, Canada faced serious globalization threats. Analysts were stating that in the future the number of automobile-related jobs in Canada would depend upon the international competitiveness of Canadian plants. To continue to increase wages would raise Canadian production costs so far above the levels in Mexico, China and other emerging nations, that the assemblers would shift production to low-cost jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the Big Three were losing market share to their non-union competitors, especially Toyota and Honda.
Swot Analysis of "Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society" written by David W. Conklin, Danielle Cadieux includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Canadian Canada's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Canadian Canada's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Canadian Canada's 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Canadian Canada's
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 Canadian Canada's
Strengths Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Canadian Canada's in Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Canadian Canada's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Canadian Canada's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Canadian Canada's in the sector have low bargaining power. Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Canadian Canada's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Canadian Canada's 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 Canadian Canada's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Canadian Canada's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Canadian Canada's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Canadian Canada's 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 David W. Conklin, Danielle Cadieux 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Canadian Canada's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Canadian Canada's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Canadian Canada's 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Canadian Canada's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Canadian Canada's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Canadian Canada's 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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.
Weaknesses Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Canadian Canada's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Canadian Canada's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, in the dynamic environment Canadian Canada's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Canadian Canada's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Canadian Canada's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, is just above the industry average. Canadian Canada's 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Canadian Canada's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Canadian Canada's 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Canadian Canada's 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Canadian Canada's 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 Canadian Canada's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Canadian Canada's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Canadian Canada's 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 - Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society | 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society are -
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. Canadian Canada's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Canadian Canada's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Canadian Canada's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Canadian Canada's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Canadian Canada's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Canadian Canada's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Canadian Canada's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Canadian Canada's 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, Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Canadian Canada's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Canadian Canada's 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 Canadian Canada's 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
– Canadian Canada's 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Canadian Canada's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Canadian Canada's 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.
Threats Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society are -
Environmental challenges
– Canadian Canada's 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. Canadian Canada's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Canadian Canada's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Canadian Canada's 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.
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. Canadian Canada's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Canadian Canada's 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society .
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. Canadian Canada's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Canadian Canada's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Canadian Canada's 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.
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 Canadian Canada's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society, Canadian Canada's 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Canadian Canada's is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Canadian Canada's 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 Canadian Canada's
– 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 Canadian Canada's.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Globalization Threatens Canada's Auto Industry: Implications for the Economy and Society 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 Canadian Canada's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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