South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?
Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition - the African National Congress, the labor unions and the Communist Party, still control the political system, but with diminishing economic results and authority. Since 2010, the economy has grown at 1.4% annually, with unemploymentat 25%....Several national plans have been initiated, but none with success. Most recently, the National Development Plan is the Zuma administration's approach... And then, at the end of 2015, cronyism sunk the stock market and the currency, causing a political crisis. Pravin Gordhan, an experience bureaucrat, is once again Finance Minister, but faces the tradeoff between growth and debt reduction.
Authors :: Richard H.K. Vietor, Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason
Swot Analysis of "South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?" written by Richard H.K. Vietor, Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cronyism Pravin facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Labor, Productivity and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cronyism Pravin, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cronyism Pravin
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 Cronyism Pravin
Strengths South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cronyism Pravin in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Cronyism Pravin has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cronyism Pravin to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cronyism Pravin 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 recruit top talent
– Cronyism Pravin is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cronyism Pravin digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cronyism Pravin 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cronyism Pravin in the sector have low bargaining power. South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cronyism Pravin to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Cronyism Pravin has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cronyism Pravin is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Cronyism Pravin 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 Cronyism Pravin in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cronyism Pravin in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? - 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
– Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 Cronyism Pravin 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 Cronyism Pravin has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?, it seems that the employees of Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? HBR case study mentions - Cronyism Pravin 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cronyism Pravin 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cronyism Pravin is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cronyism Pravin products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?, in the dynamic environment Cronyism Pravin has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cronyism Pravin has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?, 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cronyism Pravin 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 - South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? | 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? are -
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. Cronyism Pravin 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. Cronyism Pravin 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cronyism Pravin 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cronyism Pravin is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cronyism Pravin 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, South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Cronyism Pravin can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cronyism Pravin 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cronyism Pravin to increase its market reach. Cronyism Pravin 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cronyism Pravin 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.
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. Cronyism Pravin can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cronyism Pravin can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cronyism Pravin operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Cronyism Pravin 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cronyism Pravin to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cronyism Pravin can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? are -
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. Cronyism Pravin can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cronyism Pravin with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cronyism Pravin 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cronyism Pravin 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? .
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. Cronyism Pravin needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cronyism Pravin 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
– Cronyism Pravin has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cronyism Pravin 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.
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 Cronyism Pravin business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Cronyism Pravin 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.
Environmental challenges
– Cronyism Pravin 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. Cronyism Pravin can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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. Cronyism Pravin 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow? 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 Cronyism Pravin needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.