Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition
This role-play case involves a series of sessions in which the student (and each member of his or her team) will play the role of Benjamin Cheung, the vice president of HCM Asia Private Limited, a financial services firm based in Hong Kong. Cheung has an open-door policy where any manager can drop by to see him, on their own initiative, to ask for ideas, guidance, or a decision on an issue. He has only six minutes to see each manager in this informal coaching session since he has to leave for another important meeting at head office. Cheung knows the key details of each manager's background and development needs, but does not know in advance what the manager's specific concerns are. It will be necessary for Cheung to explore the manager's concerns through active listening, asking questions, and summarizing. Each of the manager roles is typical of those you might meet in an Asian organization, such as a highly skilled, technically focused leader who defaults to top-down management, an associate who lacks self-confidence and avoids confrontation at all cost, an ambitious associate who wants an international assignment but struggles with his current workload, and a detail-oriented leader who focuses on processes while losing sight of the big picture.
Swot Analysis of "Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition" written by Jane M. Howell, Ken Mark includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cheung Manager's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cheung Manager's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cheung Manager'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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cheung Manager'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 Cheung Manager's
Strengths Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cheung Manager's in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cheung Manager's in the sector have low bargaining power. Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cheung Manager's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cheung Manager's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cheung Manager's 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cheung Manager's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cheung Manager's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cheung Manager's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cheung Manager's 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cheung Manager's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Cheung Manager'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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cheung Manager's 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Cheung Manager'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 Cheung Manager's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Cheung Manager'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 Jane M. Howell, Ken Mark 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cheung Manager'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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Cheung Manager's 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 Cheung Manager's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jane M. Howell, Ken Mark suggests that, Cheung Manager's 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cheung Manager's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cheung Manager's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cheung Manager's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cheung Manager's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cheung Manager'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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cheung Manager'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 Cheung Manager's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cheung Manager's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cheung Manager's, firm in the HBR case study Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cheung Manager's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Cheung Manager's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cheung Manager's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cheung Manager's 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. Cheung Manager's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition, 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition | 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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. Cheung Manager's 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 Cheung Manager's to increase its market reach. Cheung Manager's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cheung Manager'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.
Buying journey improvements
– Cheung Manager's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cheung Manager'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.
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 Cheung Manager'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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cheung Manager's 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cheung Manager's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cheung Manager's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition case study. Cheung Manager's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Cheung Manager'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.
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. Cheung Manager's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Cheung Manager's 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. Cheung Manager's 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cheung Manager's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cheung Manager's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cheung Manager'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.
Threats Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cheung Manager's is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Cheung Manager's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cheung Manager'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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cheung Manager'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.
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 Cheung Manager's.
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 Cheung Manager's in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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, Cheung Manager'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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cheung Manager's 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cheung Manager'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.
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. Cheung Manager's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Cheung Manager'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. Cheung Manager's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Coaching for Exceptional Performance Workshop: Asia Edition 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 Cheung Manager's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.