The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy
In 2016, the United States and the European Union struggled to reach an agreement over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Started in June 2013, TTIP negotiations had gone on much longer than anyone had expected. With elections coming on both sides of the Atlantic and a rising opposition in the public opinion, what where the odds that such a comprehensive trade agreement would see the light? How would TTIP change the rules of world trade? Who would benefit and who instead lose if an agreement was finally reached?
Swot Analysis of "The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy" written by Dante Roscini, Christina Marin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ttip Transatlantic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Negotiations and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ttip Transatlantic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ttip Transatlantic
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 Ttip Transatlantic
Strengths The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ttip Transatlantic in The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ttip Transatlantic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ttip Transatlantic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 Ttip Transatlantic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy - 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 Ttip Transatlantic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ttip Transatlantic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ttip Transatlantic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ttip Transatlantic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ttip Transatlantic has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High brand equity
– Ttip Transatlantic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ttip Transatlantic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Dante Roscini, Christina Marin suggests that, Ttip Transatlantic 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
– Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ttip Transatlantic is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 Ttip Transatlantic 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ttip Transatlantic 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 - The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ttip Transatlantic, firm in the HBR case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy HBR case study mentions - Ttip Transatlantic 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy, 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ttip Transatlantic 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.
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 Ttip Transatlantic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ttip Transatlantic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Opportunities The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy | 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ttip Transatlantic to increase its market reach. Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ttip Transatlantic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ttip Transatlantic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ttip Transatlantic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Ttip Transatlantic 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. Ttip Transatlantic 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.
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. Ttip Transatlantic can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ttip Transatlantic to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Ttip Transatlantic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ttip Transatlantic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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.
Threats The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy are -
Increasing wage structure of Ttip Transatlantic
– 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 Ttip Transatlantic.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy, Ttip Transatlantic 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 .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ttip Transatlantic 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ttip Transatlantic 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.
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. Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ttip Transatlantic is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Ttip Transatlantic 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. Ttip Transatlantic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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. Ttip Transatlantic 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 Ttip Transatlantic 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ttip Transatlantic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ttip Transatlantic 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.
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. Ttip Transatlantic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ttip Transatlantic 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 Ttip Transatlantic in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 The TTIP: Bridging the Transatlantic Economy 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 Ttip Transatlantic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
