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Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West


Globalization has prompted a new trend of cross-border acquisitions from the East to the West. Fueled by non-traditional motivations, Asian companies are acquiring respected and well-established Western brands, technology, assets and knowledge, and through these acquisitions gaining access to developed markets and talent pools. One such company, Gold Peak Electronics ("GPE"), is a multinational corporation that is among an elite group of Hong Kong electronics companies that design, manufacture and sell premium professional and home electronics products. Acquiring two high-end British premium loudspeaker companies in 1992-KEF Audio and Celestion International-has allowed GPE to take advantage of these companies' well established intellectual assets and R&D capabilities. However, cross-border acquisitions such as these are complicated, requiring companies to take into consideration differing regulations, national cultures, political factors, employee mindsets and work cultures. The acquiring company has also had to deal with human resource issues in its acquisitions, including handling work distribution and promoting employees' sense of job security. Although several years have passed since the acquisition, collaboration between GPEs various R&D sites in the UK, Hong Kong, and China is still not optimal. How can GPE successfully overcome the distances between these locations and promote innovative collaboration between its dispersed R&D sites? Was growth by acquisition of Western companies the best strategy for GPE's growth? This case illustrates opportunities and challenges for global R&D and virtual collaboration across geographic and cultural distances. This case also familiarizes students with the unique challenges in acquisitions of Western companies by Eastern companies, including human resources management and how the process of innovation and innovative thinking differs across countries.

Authors :: Kuldeep Kumar, Maya Kumar

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: Financial management, Globalization, Government, Human resource management, Internet, Mergers & acquisitions, Operations management, Research & development, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West" written by Kuldeep Kumar, Maya Kumar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Gpe Acquisitions facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Globalization, Government, Human resource management, Internet, Mergers & acquisitions, Operations management, Research & development and Global Business.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gpe Acquisitions, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gpe Acquisitions 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gpe Acquisitions
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 Gpe Acquisitions




Strengths Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Gpe Acquisitions in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Gpe Acquisitions in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Gpe Acquisitions 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Training and development

– Gpe Acquisitions has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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.

Organizational Resilience of Gpe Acquisitions

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Gpe Acquisitions does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Analytics focus

– Gpe Acquisitions 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 Kuldeep Kumar, Maya Kumar 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.

Learning organization

- Gpe Acquisitions 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 Gpe Acquisitions is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High brand equity

– Gpe Acquisitions has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gpe Acquisitions to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Gpe Acquisitions is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Digital Transformation in Global Business segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gpe Acquisitions digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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.



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Net Promoter Score



Weaknesses Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West are -

Need for greater diversity

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, is just above the industry average. Gpe Acquisitions needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Kuldeep Kumar, Maya Kumar suggests that, Gpe Acquisitions 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Gpe Acquisitions 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 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 Gpe Acquisitions supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gpe Acquisitions vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Gpe Acquisitions 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 - Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Gpe Acquisitions is planning to shift buying processes online.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, in the dynamic environment Gpe Acquisitions has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Gpe Acquisitions has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Lack of clear differentiation of Gpe Acquisitions products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gpe Acquisitions needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.




Opportunities Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West | 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West are -

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. Gpe Acquisitions can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Gpe Acquisitions to increase its market reach. Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Gpe Acquisitions 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gpe Acquisitions to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Gpe Acquisitions has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Gpe Acquisitions to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West case study. Gpe Acquisitions 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, Gpe Acquisitions 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, Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Gpe Acquisitions 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

– Gpe Acquisitions can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

Developing new processes and practices

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

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. Gpe Acquisitions 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. Gpe Acquisitions 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.




Threats Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West, Gpe Acquisitions 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 .

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.

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 Gpe Acquisitions business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 Gpe Acquisitions in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Gpe Acquisitions 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West .

Consumer confidence and its impact on Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Gpe Acquisitions is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Gpe Acquisitions has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gpe Acquisitions 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.

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 Gpe Acquisitions.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Gpe Acquisitions 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.

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. Gpe Acquisitions 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gold Peak Electronics: R&D Globalization from East to West 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 Gpe Acquisitions needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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