Case Study Description of Immigration Policy in Germany
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel faced economic and moral pressure to encourage greater immigration from struggling European, and especially Eurozone, countries after the economic downturn that began in 2008. In fact, it was possible that both the Euro currency union and the European political union depended on increasing migration across member countries, including into Germany. But German domestic politics made Merkel's decision a difficult one. Instructors may also obtain a Teaching Note, written by this case's author, that provides suggestions for using this case effectively in the classroom.
Authors :: Matthew C. Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan, Alastair Su
Swot Analysis of "Immigration Policy in Germany" written by Matthew C. Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan, Alastair Su includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Immigration Merkel facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Immigration Policy in Germany case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Globalization and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Immigration Policy in Germany casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Immigration Policy in Germany
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Immigration Policy in Germany case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Immigration Merkel, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Immigration Merkel 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 Immigration Policy in Germany can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Immigration Policy in Germany case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Immigration Merkel
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 Immigration Merkel
Strengths Immigration Policy in Germany | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Immigration Merkel in Immigration Policy in Germany Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Immigration Merkel digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Immigration Merkel 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Immigration Merkel 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 Immigration Policy in Germany HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Immigration Merkel has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Immigration Merkel to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Immigration Merkel has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Immigration Policy in Germany 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Immigration Merkel has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Immigration Merkel 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.
Organizational Resilience of Immigration Merkel
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Immigration Merkel does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Immigration Merkel 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 Immigration Merkel is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Immigration Policy in Germany Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Immigration Merkel 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 Immigration Merkel in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Immigration Merkel 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 Matthew C. Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan, Alastair Su 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Immigration Merkel is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Immigration Policy in Germany 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Immigration Merkel is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Immigration Policy in Germany Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Immigration Policy in Germany are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Merkel has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Immigration Merkel, firm in the HBR case study Immigration Policy in Germany needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Immigration Policy in Germany, 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Immigration Policy in Germany, in the dynamic environment Immigration Merkel has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Immigration Merkel has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Immigration Policy in Germany HBR case study mentions - Immigration Merkel 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Immigration Merkel needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Immigration Merkel has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Matthew C. Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan, Alastair Su suggests that, Immigration Merkel 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Immigration Merkel is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Merkel 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Immigration Merkel has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities Immigration Policy in Germany | 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 Immigration Policy in Germany are -
Manufacturing automation
– Immigration Merkel 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Immigration Merkel has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Immigration Merkel to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Immigration Policy in Germany case study. Immigration Merkel can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Immigration Merkel is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Immigration Policy in Germany 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Immigration Merkel to increase its market reach. Immigration Merkel 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, Immigration Merkel 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Immigration Merkel 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.
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 Immigration Merkel 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Immigration Merkel can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Immigration Merkel can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Immigration Policy in Germany 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.
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. Immigration Merkel 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. Immigration Merkel 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Immigration Merkel 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Immigration Merkel in the consumer business. Now Immigration Merkel can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Immigration Merkel 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.
Threats Immigration Policy in Germany External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Immigration Policy in Germany are -
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 Immigration Merkel business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Immigration Merkel 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.
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. Immigration Merkel needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Immigration Merkel has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Immigration Merkel 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Immigration Merkel 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Immigration Merkel 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 Immigration Policy in Germany .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Immigration Merkel with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Immigration Merkel can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Immigration Merkel in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Immigration Merkel 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Immigration Merkel is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Immigration Policy in Germany, Immigration Merkel 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 .
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 Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Policy in Germany 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 Immigration Merkel needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.