Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry
The case describes the situation for Globalive in 2009 shortly after its bid to enter the Canadian wireless telecommunications sector had been denied by the regulatory agency on the grounds that it breached foreign ownership restrictions. The case covers the background to Globalive and the events leading to the regulator's decision. The case may be taught in a business and government course to illustrate (a) the rationale or political logic for government policy decisions, (b) the role of political or 'non-market' strategy in regulated industries, and (c) the relationship between market and non-market strategies.
Authors :: Adam Fremeth, Tony Frost, Guy Holburn, Kevin Chan
Swot Analysis of "Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry" written by Adam Fremeth, Tony Frost, Guy Holburn, Kevin Chan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Globalive Wireless facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Globalive Wireless, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Globalive Wireless
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Globalive Wireless
Strengths Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Globalive Wireless in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Globalive Wireless has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Globalive Wireless to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Globalive Wireless is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Globalive Wireless has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Globalive Wireless 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Globalive Wireless digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Globalive Wireless has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Globalive Wireless in the sector have low bargaining power. Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Globalive Wireless to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Globalive Wireless in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Globalive Wireless 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Globalive Wireless 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Globalive Wireless is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Globalive Wireless 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 Adam Fremeth, Tony Frost, Guy Holburn, Kevin Chan 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
- Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive Wireless is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Globalive Wireless is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry, is just above the industry average. Globalive Wireless 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Globalive Wireless is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Globalive Wireless needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Globalive Wireless to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Globalive Wireless 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Globalive Wireless 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Globalive Wireless is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Globalive Wireless products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Globalive Wireless needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry, it seems that the employees of Globalive Wireless don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Globalive Wireless 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, Adam Fremeth, Tony Frost, Guy Holburn, Kevin Chan suggests that, Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Globalive Wireless, firm in the HBR case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry | 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Globalive Wireless can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Globalive Wireless can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive Wireless in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Globalive Wireless can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Globalive Wireless operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Globalive Wireless can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Globalive Wireless to increase its market reach. Globalive Wireless 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Globalive Wireless 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive Wireless to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Globalive Wireless 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Globalive Wireless has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Globalive Wireless 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Globalive Wireless 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. Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry are -
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. Globalive Wireless 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Globalive Wireless in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Globalive Wireless with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Globalive Wireless needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Globalive Wireless 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Globalive Wireless 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry, Globalive Wireless may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Globalive Wireless business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Globalive Wireless
– 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 Globalive Wireless.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Globalive Wireless is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Globalive Wireless can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive: Change in the Canadian Wireless Telecom Industry 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 Globalive Wireless needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.