Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China
This case, presented in an interesting cartoon format, describes the first two weeks after Michael Faye (disguised), an expatriate executive, takes over as president of the ongoing China operations of a leading Western multinational corporation. A Zimbabwean by birth, with considerable Asian experience, Michael had little first-hand experience in the China market per se. His challenge lay in quickly climbing a steep learning curve to find the easiest and shortest path to fulfill his twin goals of repositioning the operations within the China market and repositioning China within the multinational corporation's mindset. The accompanying video, featuring an interview with Michael, gives participants insight into how he sees his role, as well as his learning and networking approach. This case might be used in conjunction with the case titled "Antonio Scarsi Takes Command" (IMD324). Together the two cases focus on the theme "Learning about Leading in China", and encourage participants to consider the very different learning styles and common leadership traits of two expatriate executives facing compelling managerial challenges in growing their Chinese business. The cases stimulate participants to reflect on: 1) what their own leadership and learning styles are like, and their implications; 2) what they could do to become more effective and efficient leaders and learners in any new assignment; and 3) how to learn from one another during class discussion.
Swot Analysis of "Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China" written by William A. Fischer, Rebecca Chung includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Learning China facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Emerging markets, Leadership and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Learning China, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Learning China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Learning China
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 Learning China
Strengths Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Learning China in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Learning China has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Learning China 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Learning China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Learning China is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Learning China 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
– Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Learning China to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Learning China to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Learning China
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Learning China does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Learning China 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 William A. Fischer, Rebecca Chung 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Learning China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Learning China is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Learning China digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Learning China 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.
Training and development
– Learning China has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Learning China in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Learning China 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. Learning China 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Learning China 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Learning China, firm in the HBR case study Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Learning China 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Learning China 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, William A. Fischer, Rebecca Chung suggests that, Learning China 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning China has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Learning China is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China HBR case study mentions - Learning China 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Learning China 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning China 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China | 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China are -
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 Learning China in the consumer business. Now Learning China can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Learning China 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Learning China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Learning China to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Learning China 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Learning China can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Learning China can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Learning China operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Learning China to increase its market reach. Learning China 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Learning China can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Learning China 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.
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 Learning China to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– Learning China 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Learning China has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Learning China to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China case study. Learning China can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Learning China 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, Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Learning China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Learning China 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Learning China 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.
Increasing wage structure of Learning China
– 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 Learning China.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Learning China 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.
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. Learning China can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China, Learning China 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 .
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 Learning China.
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. Learning China 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Learning China 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.
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 Learning China business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Learning China needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning to Lead in China: Michael Faye Goes to China 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 Learning China needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
